Undergarment



April 30, 1968 s. GLOGovr-:R 3,380,455

UNDERGARMENT Filed Deo. 19, 1966 FIG. 3

INVENTOR STANLEY GLOGOVER BYWQM ATTORNEY United States Patent O Fice 3,380,455 UNDERGARMENT Stanley Glogover, Yonkers, N Y., assigner to De Luxe Girdlecraft Co., Inc., New York, NX., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 602,973 S Claims. (Cl. 12S- 528) The present invention relates generally to undergarments and more particularly to resilient undergarments providing a foundation for control of the lower trunk portion of the body of the wearer.

It has been a problem to economically make resilient undergarments, for instance panty girdles, that provide for rm control of the hip area of the wearer and have leg encircling portions that provide for some control and yet do not cause discomfort during movement such as when walking, standing up, or sitting down and does not have a tendency to ride up on the leg of the wearer. Heretofore various relatively expensive constructions were required to provide additional ilexibility in the leg portion of such resilient undergarments to avoid discomfort to the wearer.

It is an object of this invention to provide an undergarment that has a hip surrounding upper portion and an integrally formed leg encircling portion made of the same resilient material that provides for firm control of the hip yarea of the wearer and at the same time allows for relatively free thigh movements without loss of control.

It is another object of this invention to provide such an undergarment that provides for rm control of the hip area of the wearer and at the same time allows less restrictive control of the thigh area by the predetermined omission of certain structural members in this portion.

It is another object of this invention to provide such an undergarment that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Various other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following specication, claims and the drawing appended hereto wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the front portion of the undergarment of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the rear portion of the undergarment of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged schematic view of the structure of the material of the upper hip surrounding portion of the undergarment illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged schematic View of the structure of the material of the leg encircling portion of the undergarment illustrated in FIGURE 1.

It has now been found that the foregoing objects and other advantages can be readily attained in an undergarment having an upper portion of resilient material for surrounding the hip area of the user to provide for rm control. The upper portion is constructed of material having a plurality of generally parallel members forming rows extending in a direction to enclose the hip area of the user. The generally parallel members are connected to form the rows by a plurality of intermediate members extending between the generally parallel members. Leg portions of resilient material are integrally formed with the upper portions for surrounding the thigh areas of the user and are constructed of the same material as the upper portion with the parallel members having been omitted at intervals along the leg portions to provide control of the thigh of the user which is less restrictive than the control provided by the upper portion. Such an undergarment may be readily adapted for use by both males and females.

The parallel members and intermediate members forming the material of the undergarment are resilient and Patented Apr. 3), 1968 may be single threads or may be made from a plurality of threa-ds knitted to form a single thread.

The upper portions and the leg portions may be formed from a single piece of material with a seam adapted to connect the opposite edges to form the material into the shape of an undergarment such as a panty girdle. In the disclosed embodiment, a feminine undergarment is formed from two pie-ces of material providing right and left panels which are joined by a central seam extending from the front to the rear of the undergarment. Each of the panels provide an upper portion and an integrally formed single leg portion extending from the upper portion. The leg portions are connected to form a thigh surrounding portion by a seam extending from the lower edge of each of the leg portions to the central seam at the crotch portion of the undergarment.

The integrally formed leg portions have a plurality of adjacent parallel members omitted at spaced intervals along the length of the leg portion and depending on the freedom desired in the leg portion, the number of adjacent parallel members that are omitted may be varied to adjust the restrictiveness of the control provided by this portion.

Desirably, the upper portion has an elastic waist band adjacent its upper edge to secure the undergarment around the waist of the user. Also, a central panel may be attached to the upper portion which is made of the same material in order to provide a double layer to give added control, In addition, elastic leg bands may be provided along the lower edge of the leg portions to prevent this portion from riding up on the leg of the user.

Referring now to the drawings there is illustrated a feminine undergarment, generally designated by the numeral 10, having an integrally formed right panel 12 connected to an integrally formed left panel 14 by means of a threaded seam 16 which extends from the front to the rear of the undergarment 10 whereby the panels form what is generally referred to as a panty girdle. The panels 12 and 14 are identical except that they are adapted to t on the right and left side of the wearer respectively. Each of the right and left panels have two portions made as a single piece of material that has a hip encircling or upper portion 18, and thigh encircling or leg portion 20. A waist band 22 encircles the upper edge of the right and left panels 12 and 14 to hold the undergarment 10 securely around the waist of the user. A pair of thigh bands 24 are provided around the lower edge of the leg portions 20 to prevent these portions from y[riding up on the leg of the user. A pair of conventional fasteners 25 are attached to the inside surface of each of the leg portions 20 to support a pair of stockings on the legs of the user in the usual manner.

For more firm control a central panel 26 having a decorat-ive oonguration is provided on the front portion of the undergarment 10 centrally over the seam 16 and overlapping the right and left panels 12 and 14. Central panel 26 is of the same material as the upper portion 18 and is attached the-reto by sewing to the inside surface thereof in a conventional manner.

The leg portion 20 is integrally made to form one piece of material with the upper portion 18 by periodically dropping one or more rows of stitches from the mate-rial so that the leg portion 20 is less restrictive than the upper portion 18. In orde-r to form the leg portion 20 into a thigh encircling member, opposite edges thereof are connected by a seam 27 running from the thigh band 24 to the seam 16 at the crotch portion of the garment 10.

In FIGURE 3 there is schematically illustrated a detailed construction of the material of the upper portions 18 of the right and left panels 12 and 14. This material is made with a plurality of rows of members in the form of parallel extending stitches or threads 28 joined by perpendicularly extending threads 30a and 301; which connect adjacent rows of the threads 28. As may be seen from FIGURE 3, the threads 30a are connected to threads 28 intermediate the position where threads 30b are connected thereto to provide for a flexible material which will readily stretch in two directions.

There is illustrated schematically in FIGURE 4 the construction of the integrally formed leg portion 20 of the material forming this part of the panels 12 and 14. Two rows of parallel extending members or threads 28 are connected by perpendicularly extending threads 30a joining the adjacent pair of parallel threads 28 in the same manner as the upper portion 18 described above. Adjacent pairs of the parallel extending threads 28 are connected by intermediate threads 32 that allows for a greater separation between adjacent pairs of threads 28 that the separation between each of the threads 28 forming a pair connected by the threads 30a as illustrated in FIG- URE 4. In order to provide less restriction in the leg portion 20 than in the upper portion 18, three rows of the threads 28 have been dropped and the connecting threads 30a and 30b are now in the form of intermediate threads 32 which connect with threads 28 at a midpoint between the connections to the perpendicular threads 30a. The threads 32 extend at an angle from one thread 28 to the adjacent thread 28 forming a saw-tooth pattern.

The threads 28, 30a, 3011 and 32 are made of elastic material and each thread may be knitted from smaller strands to form a single thread. The construction of the material described above is such that a two-way stretch Iis provided by the elasticity of the threads and the construction of the material as illustrated in FIGURES 3 `and 4. The right and left panels 12 and 14 provide a particularly desirable undergarment which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture as the leg portion may be made as an integrally formed piece of material with the upper portion 18.

Accordingly, there is provided an undergarment that has an upper portion and a leg portion integrally formed by a single piece of material that provides for rrn control of the hip area of the user and at the same time, provides less restrictive control of the thigh area to allow for comfortable movements without loss of control. The undergarment may be made in the two integrally formed panels that are connected by a single seam thereby providing an undergarment that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

It w-ill be understood that the foregoing description with the details of exemplary structure is not to be construed in any way to limit the invention, but that modications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Hav-ing thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An undergarment comprising: an upper portion of resilient material for surrounding the hip area of the user to provide firm control, said upper portion being constructed of material having a plurality of generally parallel elastic threads forming rows extend-ing in a direction to enclose the hin area of the user, said generally parallel threads being inter-connected at spaced points to form said rows by a plurality of intermediate threads extending between said generally parallel members; and legencompassing portions of resilient material integrally formed with said upper portion for surrounding the thigh areas of the user, said leg-encompassing portions being constructed of the same material as said upper portion with said parallel threads having been omitted at intervals along the length of said leg-encompassing portions to provide control of the thigh yof the user that is less restrictive than the control provided by said upper portion.

2. The undergarment of claim 1 wherein said upper portion is formed in two panels and joined by a central seam extending from the front to the rear of the undergarment, and wherein each of said panels have one of said leg portions integrally formed therewith yand extending therefrom.

3. The undergarment of claim 2 wherein said lcg portions are each connected to form a thigh surrounding portion by a leg seam extending from the lower edge of each of said leg portions to said central seam at the crotch portion of said undergarment.

4. The undergarment of claim 1 wherein said leg portions are constructed with a plurality of adjacent parallel members having been omitted at spaced intervals along said leg portions.

5. The undergarment of claim 1 wherein said upper portion has an elastic waist band adjacent its upper edge and a central panel attached thereto of the same material as said upper portion to give added control; and wherein elastic leg bands are provided along the lower edge of said leg portions to prevent said leg portions from riding up on the leg of the user.

6. An undergarment comprising: a pair of upper portions of resilient material connected by a seam extending from the front to the rear of said undergarment for surrounding the hip area of the user to provide firm control, said upper portion being constructed of material having a plurality of generally parallel elastic threads forming rows extending in a direction to enclose the hip area of the user, said generally parallel threads being inter-connected at spaced points to form said rows by a plurality of intermediate members extending between said generally parallel members; and a pair of leg-encompassing portions of resilient material each integrally formed with one of said pair of upper portions for surrounding the thigh areas of the user, said leg-encompassing portions being constructed of the same material as said upper portion with a plurality of adjacent parallel members having been omitted at spaced intervals along said leg-encompassing portion to provide control of the thigh of the user that is less restrictive than the control provided by said upper portion.

7. The undergarment of claim 6 wherein said leg portions are each connected to form a thigh surrounding portion by a leg seam extending lfrom the lower edge of each of said leg portions to said central seam at the crotch portion of said undergarment.

8. The undergarment of claim 6 wherein said pair of upper portions have an elastic waist band adjacent its upper edge and a central panel attached thereto of the same material as said upper portions to give added control; and wherein elastic leg bands are provided along the lower edge of said leg portions to prevent said leg portions from riding up on the leg of the user.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,235,499 3/ 1941 Hiller 2-224 2,623,210 l2/1952 Chateld l28-528 3,245,410 4/1966 Martin 12S-541 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN UNDERGARMENT COMPRISING: AN UPPER PORTION OF RESILIENT MATERIAL FOR SURROUNDING THE HIP AREA OF THE USER TO PROVIDE FIRM CONTROL, SAID UPPER PORTION BEING CONSTRUCTED OF MATERIAL HAVINGA PLURALIT OF GENERALLY PARALLEL ELASTIC THREADS FORMING ROWS EXTENDING IN A DIRECTION TO ENCLOSE THE HIP AREA OF THE USER, SAID GENERALLY PARALLEL THREADS BEING INTER-CONNECTED AT SPACED POINTS TO FORM SAID ROWS BY A PLURALITY OF INTERMEDIATE THREADS EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID GENERALLY PARALLEL MEMBERS; AND LEGENCOMPASSING PORTIONS OF RESILIENT MATERIAL INTEGRALLY FORMED WITH SAID UPPER PORTION FOR SURROUNDING THE THIGH AREAS OF THE USER, SAID LEG-ENCOMPASSING PORTIONS BEING CONSTRUCTED OF THE SAME MATERIAL AS SAID UPPER PORTION WITH SAID PARALLEL THREADS HAVING BEEN OMITTED AT INTERVALS ALONG THE LENGTH OF SAID LEG-ENCOMPASSING PORTIONS TO PROVIDE CONTROL OF THE THIGH OF THE USER THAT IS LESS RESTRICTIVE THAN THE CONTROL PROVIDED BY SAID UPPER PORTION. 